Published: 26 Nov 2007

Group 1 Software, Inc. is a Pitney Bowes Company.

In the coming weeks, clients who book a trip with the German catalogues of Thomas Cook AG will receive a personalised travel booklet containing address labels, rail and airline vouchers, flight information vouchers or alternative flight coupons, hotel vouchers, as well as any gift vouchers. The documents are sorted by itinerary and are individually detachable for the various services.

Following its introduction in Germany, the new service will be rolled out in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

"Group 1 Software's CCM solution has made believers out of us," said Jürgen Neumann, Head of Shared Services Customer Documents, Thomas Cook AG. "One module of the solution performs the formatting of the forms that go in the booklet. In addition, the department can create electronic inserts, such as information about the destination area, entry requirements, and notes about carry-on luggage or contacts – all without the support of the IT department. With the booklets, customers have all the important travel information handy at a glance. In addition, we can speak to the customers individually and significantly improve customer communication."

In the search for a suitable solution for coordinated customer communication management, the company set four priorities which were realised in cooperation with Group 1 Software: access to customer information from various data sources; provision of this information via the different corporate applications; uniform document formatting and generation for more efficiency in production and distribution via diverse communications channels; and, the possibility to archive customer information centrally and quickly retrieve it in order to provide high-quality service in answering customer inquiries.

Group 1 Software's solution for Thomas Cook AG includes the e2 suite, an application for electronic billing and electronic bill presentment, as well as electronic payment. The e2 suite makes it possible for both the department, as well as customer service, to display exact replicas of the booklets as a PDF file. In addition, the CCM solution automatically performs the print control of the individual forms and recognizes at booking level where the documents must be delivered for printing.

"Thomas Cook recognises the benefits of personalised communications for improving customer experience and increasing customer loyalty," said Andrew Greenyer, VP International Marketing, Pitney Bowes Group 1 Software. "Group 1 Software's end-to-end CCM solutions provide a complete suite of tools for delivering the right message to the right customer at the right time."